Written Answers

Monday 2 October 2000

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers itself bound by an undertaking made by a Scottish Office Minister in February 1999.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought and obtained legal advice about whether it is required to honour the assurances given by Lord Sewel in a letter to Mr Jim Wallace MP on 18 February 1999 and, if so, whether it will place a copy of the advice in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be co-operating fully with the National Audit Office in the latter’s consideration of the written undertakings given by Lord Sewel on 18 February 1999 that all applications under the original and revised Agricultural Business Improvement Scheme would be accommodated; whether it has sought or will seek from Lord Sewel an explanation for his decision; and whether his decision was the correct one.

Ross Finnie: I understand that the question refers to the Agricultural Business Improvement Scheme (ABIS) and a letter written by Lord Sewel on 18 February 1999.

  This matter was the subject of proceedings before the Rural Affairs Committee on 3 December 1999. I said to the Committee at that meeting that, in looking at the effect of Lord Sewel’s letter, it was necessary to take account of the letter to which he was responding, in the context of the explanatory leaflet that sets out the ABIS scheme’s rules. I also said that my position was that, looked at on that basis, Lord Sewel’s letter did not amount to a promise.

  I remain of the view, taking account of all the advice I have received, that to interpret Lord Sewel’s letter as amounting to an undertaking is to ignore the context in which it was made.

  It follows that I do not consider that Lord Sewel’s letter amounts to a promise.

Central Heating

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures it intends to put in place regarding the recovery of the costs of central heating installed as a result of the initiative announced on 18 September 2000 in cases where an elderly person who is an owner occupier or private tenant dies or leaves the accommodation in respect of which the grant was awarded.

Mr Frank McAveety: I am convening a group to determine how the central heating initiative will be implemented. It will include representatives of the power companies and relevant charities. This is one of the issues which will be considered.

Central Heating

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the grants to be made available under its initiative on central heating announced on 18 September 2000 will be means tested and, if so, what the eligibility criteria will be.

Mr Frank McAveety: There will be no means test.

Central Heating

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether elderly people who have central heating installed as a result of the initiative announced on 18 September 2000 and who are owner occupiers or private tenants will be eligible for a further grant if they move to a new home that does not have central heating.

Mr Frank McAveety: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9951.

Central Heating

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which groups will receive priority in its initiative on central heating announced on 18 September 2000 and how priority need will be assessed.

Mr Frank McAveety: We believe that pensioners without central heating are in priority need and so they will be first to benefit.

Child Protection

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the current measures in place are sufficient to protect children who are known to be at risk of harm from their parents or guardians.

Peter Peacock: The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 provides for a range of measures which, if used appropriately and timeously, should protect children who are known to be at risk of harm from their parents or guardians.

Climate Change Levy

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assessment has been or will be made of the impact of the proposed Climate Change Levy on the fishing industry.

Mr John Home Robertson: The climate change levy will not affect fuel for fishing vessels. Fish processors are subject to the levy but are eligible for 80% rebates available under the Food and Drink Federation’s Climate Change Levy Discount scheme. The Sea Fish Industry Authority has written to fish processors to make them aware of the rebate arrangements and will be carrying out further work to investigate the economic impact of the levy. Further information on the levy is available from www.energy-efficiency.org/climate .

HMS Gannet

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8821 by Mr Alasdair Morrison on 7 August 2000, whether it will publish details of the comments which it gave to the Ministry of Defence in response to their consultation document on the future of HMS Gannet.

Henry McLeish: Exchanges between the Scottish Executive and the UK Government are normally conducted on a confidential basis.

Population

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific plans it will implement to reverse the anticipated population decline in Dundee of 15.3% between 1999 and 2016 as detailed in the 1999 Annual Report of the Registrar General for Scotland.

Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive and its agencies will continue to encourage population retention based on employment opportunities through assistance to business and the efforts of Locate in Scotland to attract inward investment to the area. The Dundee Partnership, which comprises public, private, academic, voluntary and community bodies, is implementing the "Vision for Dundee" strategy, a central objective of which is the stabilisation of the city’s population. Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Dundee City Council and Scottish Homes are also working within the Partnership to address population decline through housing policy.

  The Executive is also committed to building the Dundee economy. As an example of this, on 18 September the mobile phone company, One 2 One announced that it is to establish a call centre at Dundee Technology Park, which will invest over £13 million into Dundee and create 1,000 jobs by December 2002.

Population

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific plans it will implement to reverse the anticipated population decline in Inverclyde of 17.2% between 1999 and 2016 as detailed in the 1999 Annual Report of the Registrar General for Scotland.

Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive and its agencies will continue to encourage population retention based on employment opportunities through assistance to business and the efforts of Locate in Scotland to attract inward investment to the area. A study was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire, Scottish Homes and Inverclyde Council in November 1999 to assess the links between the housing market, the local economy, and depopulation in Inverclyde. The findings are being considered.

Road Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support the campaign to reduce deaths from road accidents being run from January 2001 by Highland Health Board, Highland Council and Northern Constabulary.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive provides funds to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign for the development of road safety educational materials and publicity initiatives. The campaign organises national road safety education initiatives and publicity campaigns as well as providing education and publicity materials to road safety units throughout Scotland, including Highland. These materials will be available for use in support of the campaign by Highland Health Board, Highland Council and Northern Constabulary.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has a role in drafting answers to relevant parliamentary questions and, if so, whether it will list those questions with which the SQA has assisted.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Questions which relate purely to operational matters for SQA have been passed to the Chairman for reply. Replies to other questions have drawn upon factual information supplied by the SQA as necessary. Other than this they have no role in drafting answers to parliamentary questions.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates the Scottish Executive/Scottish Qualifications Authority liaison group has met since its inception and whether minutes of its meetings will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Mr Sam Galbraith: During the lifetime of this Parliament, the Scottish Executive/Scottish Qualifications Liaison Group met on 10 November 1999, 8 February 2000 and 10 May 2000. The minutes of these meetings have been passed to the Education, Culture and Sport Committee and the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.